Wissahickon falls short of Colonials
It will be remembered as a 35-21 3OymRuWK WKLWHmDUsK High victory, a victory that propelled the Colonials LnWR sROH SRssHssLRn RI fiUsW place in the Suburban One ieague’s American Conference.
But perhaps even more memorable was the 94-yard 3W GULYH DW WKH HnG RI WKH fiUsW KDOI WKDW WuUnHG WKH FRntest completely around.
Trailing by a point midway WKURuJK WKH sHFRnG TuDUWHU, the Colonials mounted a terULfiF 94-yDUG GULYH WKDW nRW only gave the visitors the lead, but sparked a Colonials offense that ultimately scored on three successive possessions.
By JDmH’s HnG, 3W Uunning back Corey Kelly had rushed for 229 yards and WKUHH WRuFKGRwns, EDFkfiHOG mate Terry Brown ran for 176 mRUH DnG TuDUWHUEDFk 3HWH GLRUJLR WKUHw IRU RnH touchdown and ran for another, and the Colonials wHUH Ln fiUsW SODFH DOO Ey themselves.
“Absoultely,” said Colonials coach Dan Chang, when asked if the 16-play, 94-yard march had the biggest impact on the game. “It was a huge drive for us, and a huge momentum turn. They fumble the ball inside WKH 10 DnG wH JR 95 (DFWually 94) yards.
“It was a great drive by the kids.”
“It was just like our last game (a come-from-behind overtime win over Chelten- ham),” added Brown. “We got in the huddle and talked about coming back, about fiJKWLnJ KDUG DnG FRmLnJ back.
“(Wissahickon) was the team we felt was the biggest threat to us winning a league championship. It was a big game. It was all we talked about this week.”
Early on, the two teams
played, “Can you top this?”
The Trojans took the opening kickoff and, keyed by Dan Murphy’s 33-yard run Rn WKH fiUsW SODy IURP sFULPmage, went 53 yards on four plays to take a 7-0 lead, with quarterback Randy FrankenfiHOG EuFNLnJ Ln IURP WKH 1-yard line just 73 seconds into the contest.
PW responded by scoring exactly one minute later when Kelly capped a four-play, 76yard drive with a two-yard score. That score was set up by back-to-back Brown runs totaling 66 yards.
After the two sides exchanged punts, the Trojans regained the lead when Murphy rambled 22 yards to push the score to 14-7 with 2:03 left in the opening period.
But the Colonials answered once more, going 48 yards on eight plays, with .HOOy DFFRunWLnJ IRU WKH final 11, hitting the end zone with 10:09 left in the half.
The extra-point attempt failed, however, so the Trojans were still the front-runners.
Wissahickon seemed destined to add to its lead when a 53-yard pass play from FranNHnfiHOG WR GRUGRn BHnWOHy JDvH WKH KRPH WHDP D fiUsW down at the Colonials 11.
But three plays later, Colonials lineman Ryan Lunney pounced on a Trojans fumble at the 6-yard line.
PW took over with 6:41 left in the half, then put together its drive of the year. It began with a 9-yard run by Kelly and featured 11 runnLnJ SODys DnG fivH SDssHs. The key play was a backside screen that Alton Custus turned into a 26-yard gain to the Trojans 3-yard line.
Kelly scored on the next play, and the Colonials went into the break with a 19-14 lead.
“That’s a good, wellcoached football team,” said Trojans coach Jeff Cappa about the Colonials. “That GULvH GLG GHflDWH us D OLWWOH, EuW we didn’t quit until the end.
“They did everything we knew they would do, but they executed well and we had some missed assignments.”
PW carried the momentum of that drive into the second half, and streaked 71 yDUGs Rn fivH SODys WR DGG WR its lead, with Kelly’s 31-yard run and Giorgio’s 32-yard TD scamper polishing it off.
After a Trojans three-andout, PW went back to work and traversed 92 yards on nine plays with a Giorgio to Erik Tucker 13-yard pass putting PW in front, 35-14, with 4:34 remaining in the quarter.
“We made a couple of tweaks offensively,” said Chang of an attack that included 13 pass attempts. “We saw some things that we could hurt them with, and our guys executed very well.”
Wissahickon, which lost Murphy to injury in the fiUsW KDOI, EDWWOHG EDFN, GULving inside the PW 10 on its next drive, only to watch the march end on downs at the Colonials 7.
But late in the quarter, )UDnNHnfiHOG IRunG BHnWOHy three different times on an 85-yDUG GULvH, WKH finDO WLPH for a 29-yard score with one tick of the clock remaining in the third.
Both sides drove deep into enemy territory in the finDO TuDUWHU, EuW nHLWKHU sLGH could produce points.
“We never felt we were out of it,” Cappa said. “They got some drives and we held them to a lot of third downs. But to their credit they converted those third downs.
“But our guys fought to the end.”
At the end, however, it was PW at the top of the SOL American heap. And enjoying the view. “Hey, we’re beat up,” Brown said. “Everybody’s hurting right now. But we wanted this one.”